Live the Lion was created in an attempt to keep everyone up to date on Lance O'Cull and his road to recovery.

Lance was involved in a car accident near Morehead, Kentucky about 30 miles from where we grew up Thanksgiving weekend of 2010. He was airlifted from the scene of the accident to UK Medical Center in Lexington. The doctors told us that they could fix everything below the neck, but his brain was in God's hands. On December 22, after multiple surgeries, Lance was transferred to The Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia for an intense rehabilitation program.

It was there that Lance began to gradually emerge from a coma. Lance was discharged to home, in Vanceburg on February 17th, to continue his therapy with family.

On March 10th, Lance's 25th birthday, he stood on his feet for the first time in 103 days, with lots of help. On May 11th, Lance was accepted into Cardinal Hill's brain injury unit. There he impressed and amazed our family and friends, as well as his therapists through the progress he made everyday.

Between September 2011 and April of 2012, Lance was back and forth between Cardinal Hill's inpatient program and Shepherd Center's inpatient and outpatient program. He has had a couple minor surgeries to enhance his healing and a baclofen pump inserted to help with the tone in his body.

For the past year, Lance is back in Lewis County splitting his time with both parents. He continues to travel to Ashland 3 times a week and Lexington once a week. He is learning to walk again and we couldn't be more thrilled.

It hasn't been easy, Lance has had some setbacks and tears still fall. But he is up and running this marathon. And we are all running right along beside him.

Most of the blog entries have been made by myself, Chelcee, the big sister, Brock, our baby brother, and Dr. Johnny, our dad. Our goal is for Lance to finish this blog as soon as he is able.

God has been with Lance and our entire family, giving us strength. We give Him the Glory. He is the God of Miracles.



~Chelcee




Friday, May 20, 2011

Hello, again.

So, I haven't blogged lately. Ive been laying under a blanket of Live the Lion tshirts. All of the shirs have come in. Now, its just a matter of getting them organized and delivered. Marilyn Scaggs has been so helpful in delivering several of them. Since I'm off today, I plan to deliver more to central and the middle school. If you are one of my dads patients, that lives out of town, your shirt will be at the dental office. So, come to your next appointment :)
If I can meetup with you somewhere else, I'll be doing that in the next few days. A huge thanks to everyone who ordered a shirt. The tshirts were not really meant to be a fundraiser. But more of a way to get the word out there. The word, that prayers works. As well as what Live the Lion means. And what it means to Lance.
Live the Lion was a saying that Lance frequently enjoyed talking about. E' meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cent'anni da pecora translates to [It] is better to live one single day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep. These words were written as graffiti in 1809 on city walls in Italy after the victorious Battle of thhe Piave River. This was believed to have originated from Psalms 84:10, reading, "Better is one day in your house than a thousand elsewher. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God an dwell in the tents of the wicked."
Lance always said to Brock that when you decide to be a lion, you might only live for one spectacular day. But it will be spectacular! And when you decide to be a sheep, you wake up and everyday for a hundred years, you have to say to yourself, "Today, I'm just going to be a sheep." This was Lance's way of encouraging everyone he was around to make their day spectacular. Make each day count.

Lance has been at Cardinal Hill for over a week now. They are amazing there, he has each therapy twice a day. Sometimes, they group together for a therapy session in an attempt to keep him awake. Lance is still on some seizure medication, and I think that makes him drowsy at times. Visiting hours at Cardinal Hill are from 8am-8pm everyday. They recommend that if you can come later in the day, after therapy, that is best for Lance.

My Aunt Christa's husband, Chief lost his battle with cancer this past Monday. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

The sun is shining today, so I'm going to make the best of it.

-Chelcee
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. LoidaMay 22, 2011 at 11:37 PM

    Chelcee, Thank you for posting. I have Lance in my mind often. Are you taking pictures at therapy, with family members, friends? That will help him later to realize how far his gone, you can compare with the pictures when he complains he is not getting anywhere or better. I know pictures have helped Danny and sometimes he asks about the time it was taken. He can see how much he has changed and how much is able to do even though is not good enough for him and that is ok, that gives us a topic of conversation.
    We, my family and I keep praying for Lance and we trust the Lord, the same Lord, Healer, Peace giver that is working in Danny the He is restoring Lance, only that is takes time... but in the process we are growing in Him.
    May the Lord give you peace and that your faith may be strengthen daily.
    Your friend and sister in Christ in Atlanta,
    Loida

    ReplyDelete
  2. StephanieJune 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    Keeping Lance and your family in my prayers Chelcee...and if Marilyn wants to deliver my t-shirts, tell her to come on down! ;)

    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)